A 24-year-old Edgewood man was sentenced to serve up to four years in state prison last week after pleading guilty to assaulting an Abingdon man who is confined to a wheelchair.
Circuit Judge Stephen M. Waldron accepted a plea agreement Wednesday from Bernard Peebles Davis of McCann Street, suspended six years of a 10-year sentence for assault with intent to rob and ordered the defendant to serve five years of supervised probation after his release.
The defendant also was given credit for 236 days served in jail.
At about 11:30 p.m. Nov. 2, 1994, according to court records, Davis and "several others," who were not named in charging documents, broke into the home of Joseph Edward Ensey of the 3800 block of Memory Lane.
"The defendant and others started hitting and kicking [Mr. Ensey], who is confined to a wheelchair. . . . [Davis] started hitting the victim in the head with a baseball bat," court records say.
During the attack, Mr. Ensey suffered a broken jaw and a broken right hip, both requiring surgery, court records show. Also, according to court records, Mr. Ensey required eight stitches in his left arm, 24 stitches in his hip and had a metal plate placed in his head.
Court records state that the attack was made because the defendant believed that Mr. Ensey owed him money.
In other recent Harford County Circuit Court matters:
* Eugene James O'Hara Jr., 44, of the 100 block of E. Broadway in Bel Air, was sentenced Monday to serve up to five years in state prison for breaking into the home of a Fallston man who he claimed had threatened him and attacking the occupants of the home and a dog.
Judge William O. Carr on May 23 accepted the defendant's Alford plea to charges of breaking into a house, animal cruelty, assault with intent to maim and two counts of assault. The plea means that the defendant does not admit guilt but
acknowledges that it is in his best interest to accept the agreement.
According to court records, O'Hara, a salesman for Keene Dodge, was arrested June 13, 1994, and charged with assaulting the residents of a Fallston home in the 400 block of Mountain Road about 5 a.m.
Court documents state that the defendant broke into the home and held a gun to the head of an 11-year-old girl, then fatally shot a Doberman that was in a bedroom with the 18-year-old man whom the defendant wanted to see.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Carr heard testimony that the defendant is a recovering alcoholic who had been drinking before the incident.
Judge Carr sentenced the defendant to 10 years in prison with all but five years suspended for breaking into the house, two years for assault with intent to maim and 90 days for animal cruelty. The sentences will run concurrently.
Judge Carr also gave O'Hara two, 10-year suspended sentences for assault and credit for 14 months served in jail.
Upon his release, O'Hara will be placed on three years' supervised probation and will be required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and receive psychological counseling.
* William Cornelius Young, Jr., 27, of the 1900 block of Eloise Lane in Edgewood, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in state prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to selling crack cocaine to an undercover police officer and later battering a fellow inmate at the Harford County Detention Center.
Judge Stephen M. Waldron accepted the defendant's guilty pleas, suspended 10 years of a 20-year prison sentence for distribution of cocaine and gave him a one-year sentence for battering the inmate.
Judge Waldron also ordered the defendant to complete any drug counseling deemed necessary after an evaluation by Harford County Department of Health officials and to serve five years' supervised probation upon his release.
According to court records, the defendant was arrested by deputies from the Harford County Sheriff's Office on Aug. 26, 1994, less than an hour after he sold a bag of crack cocaine for $20 to an undercover officer from the Harford County Joint Narcotics Task Force.
At the time of his arrest, Young was on probation for a 1993 conviction for distribution of a controlled dangerous substance.
Less than four months later, on Dec. 11, 1994, the defendant assaulted an inmate, Leonard J. Makowski, at the Harford County Detention Center.
Makowski was knocked unconscious and was taken by ambulance to Fallston General Hospital, where he was treated in the emergency room for a cut to the back of his head, a broken rib, a cracked tooth and several minor injuries, court documents show. Makowski was returned to the Detention Center after he was treated.
* Lavalle K. Stanley, 39, of New York City, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in state prison, with all but three years suspended, for possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Judge Carr accepted the defendant's guilty plea Aug 9.
According to court records, Stanley was a passenger in a white 1995 Dodge Intrepid that was stopped by Maryland State Police for speeding on Interstate 95 shortly after 1 a.m. May 20. More than 30 grams of heroin was found in a carry bag in the trunk of the car during an authorized search by state troopers.
The defendant told troopers the bag and heroin were his, according to a report by state police. The defendant also said he had purchased the heroin for $600 in New York City, the report shows.
Upon his release, Stanley will be placed on two years' supervised probation.
